


Plan B

by Chie (Chierafied)



Series: Drabblers one shots HP [28]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Meetings, Humor, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-07-01 03:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15765963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chierafied/pseuds/Chie
Summary: Lily needs to find a replacement for her former boyfriend / current sleazebag of an ex - in half an hour. What's a girl to do, grab someone from the street?





	1. Chapter 1

Lily stared at her phone in mute horror. Tears burned in her eyes as the picture was seared into her memory.

It wasn’t that she was heartbroken. They had only been going out for three weeks and Lily had had her reservations about him – for a good reason, it would seem.

So that sick, sinking feeling in her stomach wasn’t really because Marlene had just caught the guy Lily had been seeing kissing the daylights out of some random girl.

It was because Lily had been supposed to meet up with her former boyfriend and current sleazebag of an ex in half an hour so they could travel together to Cokeworth to her parents’ annual summer garden party.

She could not show up alone – she’d told her family she was bringing in her new boyfriend. Petunia had recently got engaged and would without a doubt look down at her sharp nose at Lily while flaunting her engagement ring.

Worse yet,  _everyone_ was going to be there, including Severus.

Lily grimaced, remembering how he had accosted her last year in a private corner, apologising for the umpteenth time and all but professing his undying love.

No, she definitely could not go to the party alone.

What to do? How would she find someone to go to Cokeworth with her – in half an hour?!

Someone jostled past her, knocking against her shoulder with enough force to make her stagger.

Lily winced, realising all of a sudden that she was descending into a panic in the middle of a busy London street.

Another passer-by stopped beside her.

“All right there, Miss?”

Lily was ready to wave away the kind concern and assure the stranger that everything was fine – which it decidedly  _wasn’t_  – when she paused.

She gave the stranger a considering look. He was a young man, around her own age, with glasses and messy dark hair. He was quite good-looking, and obviously a kind person since he’d stopped to inquire if she was okay.

And hopefully, as he had stopped, he wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere.

“I’m having a bit of an emergency, actually,” Lily confessed, meeting the stranger’s eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to be free, would you? Right now and for the rest of the day?”

His eyebrows rose, but his hazel eyes flashed in interest and boldly looked her up and down.

“I might.” He grinned. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I need you to be my boyfriend,” Lily blurted.

He held up his finger and reached into the pocket of his jeans. “One second.”  
He pulled out a phone, tapped on it quickly and expertly and pressed it against his ear.

“Hey, Sirius,” he said, as the person he was calling picked up. He was holding her gaze as he spoke on the phone. “I can’t make it tonight.”

Lily’s shoulders slumped with relief.

“Because I have a date with my girlfriend,” he said into the phone, winking at her.

The corners of Lily’s lips twitched.

“The girlfriend I just met,” he said matter-of-factly. “Talk to you later, bye!”

He hung up on his friend and flashed her a bright roguish smile.

“So, love, where are we going?”


	2. All In

Lily glanced at the fit bloke next to her as the train pulled off from the station.

Even though she saw him sitting there, could brush against that broad shoulder if she leaned just a little bit closer, could feel the heat radiating off his tall, leanly muscled body… 

A part of her still didn’t quite believe she’d had the nerve to accost a perfect stranger on the street and told him she needed him to be her boyfriend.

It only added to her disbelief that the perfect stranger had agreed without hesitation.

It hadn't all been smooth sailing, however: they’d got into a small row back at the ticket booth. 

Lily had wanted to pay for his ticket since he was going into trouble on her account and had had to cancel his plans with his friends.

But the guy – James Potter – had not allowed her to repay him for his time. 

In fact, he’d snatched her purse from her hand and slipped it into his back pocket before handing the amused sales clerk his debit card.

When he’d given Lily the purse back, with his ticket in hand, his hazel eyes had been twinkling. 

The only explanation he’d deigned to give, had been: “I don’t want you to think I’m doing this out of obligation.”

What ever the bloody hell that meant!

But now they were on a train heading to Cokeworth, about to spend the next hour and half sitting side by side with little distractions.

It was time to come clean.

“So this garden party my parents are hosting is a big deal," Lily started. "They do it every summer and half the neighbourhood’s invited.”

“Only half? My mum never settles for less than the whole neighbourhood,” James replied.

The corners of Lily’s lips twitched, and her body relaxed against the seat.

“I had told mum I’d bring my boyfriend with me this time. Which probably was a mistake, since we hadn’t been dating for that long and I wasn’t sure if our relationship was even going anywhere and… Well, it’s a moot point now.”

“If the bloke’s stupid enough to chase after other girls while he’s dating you, good riddance to him,” James said decisively.

Lily bit her lip. “But since I told mum, by now everyone’s expecting me to arrive with a boyfriend on my arm.”

James nudged her with his shoulder and grinned. “And so you will.”

Lily smiled back at him. “Thanks to you.”

“No need to thank me, Lily. Free food and drinks and a beautiful woman to keep company to – it’s going to be much more fun than just going to the pub with the lads.”

Lily tried her best to ignore the warm flutter she felt at having been told she was beautiful.

She didn’t quite succeed.

“Oh, and a fair warning,” Lily said, ploughing on, “my sister and I don’t really get along. Since you're accompanying me she'll probably dislike you, too. Feel free to just ignore her.”

“Ignoring the sister,” James promised solemnly.

“An old and former friend of mine might be coming too. I cut him out after he fell into a bad crowd but he cornered me at the last year’s party and tried to plead his case." Lily grimaced. "That’s another reason why I didn’t want to go to the party alone today.”

“Challenge a clueless berk to a duel so he’ll stop giving you grief – check.” James met her gaze and winked. “Don’t worry about it, love. We’ll go and party and have fun, that’s all there is to it.”

Lily’s smile came from the heart.

“You’re a real life-saver, James. Thank you so much.”

James flicked her nose.

Lily flinched, then let out a startled laugh that turned sincere the next second.

“Now that’s better,” James said, and the way he smiled at her had her breath catch in her throat. “I told you already there’s no need to thank me. I’m more than happy to help.”

After that, they eased into a conversation. As they got to know one another a little better, the minutes grew wings and fluttered by at a startling speed.

Sooner than Lily would have believed, they were in Cokeworth – and in a flower shop.

“We can’t show up empty-handed,” James had told her before strolling in,

Watching him decide between the bouquets the florist was suggesting, Lily could feel that swoon coming in.

She might just be in over her head with this one.

James got his bouquet and they got out of the flower shop. 

As they started walking down the street towards the neighbourhood Lily had grown up in, he slipped his hand into hers.

Something warm and heavy swelled in Lily’s chest and she was pretty sure she was smiling like an idiot.

Yup, she was definitely in over her head.

And she didn’t care.

She pointed out places of interest as they walked, such as the coffee shop in the corner or her old school, the light-hearted banter flowing easily between them.

As they turned to her street, Lily pointed towards the house near the end. “That’s it right there. The house I grew up.”

James stopped.

Confused, Lily halted as well and turned to him.

He was looking at her, disconcertingly serious all of a sudden.

Fear crept up Lily’s spine on cold spindly legs.

He couldn’t have changed his mind now, could he?

“I don’t want to come across as being too forward,” he said after a while, his hazel eyes hesitant. “But there’s something I need to clarify with you before we go in.”

“What is it?” Lily asked, squeezing his hand.

Her heart dropped when he leaned in.

It soared when his lips brushed against hers. Very lightly - the all too brief contact almost shy.

He pulled back, gauged her reaction.

_To hell with it_ , Lily thought, the second before she rose to the tip or her toes.

There was no hesitancy in the kiss she initiated; it was a slow but explosive crackle of chemistry.

James was grinning when they pulled apart, both of them a little short of breath.

He offered her his arm. “Shall we?”

Lily took it, exhilaration bubbling in her body.

She would go to her parents’ garden party with a gorgeous man on his arm – who definitely hadn’t tagged along from any sense of obligation.

 


End file.
